Feature and Giveaway ~ Darkly Dreaming Anthology

Book Info:

Title: Darkly Dreaming

Authors: Kristen Painter, Elizabeth Hunter, Grace Draven, Cate Rowen and Danielle Monsch

Release Date: September 15, 2014

Genre: Fantasy Romance

Format: Boxed Set

Summary

Fall into magic and fall in love with DARKLY DREAMING, an anthology from five award winning and bestselling writers in fantasy romance.

Feared by a priesthood. Coveted by a god. Tempted by a slave. In Grace Draven's MASTER OF CROWS, a renegade mage must battle a god for his soul and decide if his fate—and the fate of nations—is worth the life of the spy he has come to love. 

From MASTER OF CROWS:

Silhara’s eyes closed. He told himself the residual effects of her Gift sliding over him—through him—brought on that embrace. But he didn’t believe his own lies. He kissed Martise because he wanted her, because he admired her. Because he wanted more than just the ethereal essence of her lingering on his tongue once her Gift withdrew. He’d kissed her on impulse, lured by the tempting curve of her lips and the slight feel of her in his arms. He’d expected her to retreat from his onslaught. Gentleness was not in his nature, and he was desperate to taste her. But she hadn’t recoiled from his rough embrace, responding instead with a passion to equal his own.  

Learn more about Grace at http://gracedraven.com.

***

Experience sword, sorcery, and mythical beings as never before in STONE GUARDIAN, the first book of the Entwined Realms by Danielle Monsch. Larissa's sheltered world is destroyed when she is targeted by Necromancers. With nowhere else to turn, Larissa forms an uneasy alliance with Terak, leader of the Gargoyles. Will Terak be Larissa's salvation, or her downfall?

From STONE GUARDIAN

She was sleeping, his little human, her eyelashes soft shades under closed eyelids. Her lips made a little pout as she slept, as if she was waiting for a kiss. That was one request he would always grant.

He ghosted his lips over hers, bit by bit applying more pressure with each pass, until she woke. Those eyes opened, the room too dark to see their full color, but after the focused on him they relaxed, losing the lines of confusion and settling into happiness. “I’m sorry I fell asleep. It’s been a long day.”

He pushed her hair back from her cheek, the petal-soft skin sensitizing the nerve endings in his fingers. “Yes, it has. I wish I had the willpower to let you sleep as you need, but I could not wait that long to hear your voice again.”

To learn more about Danielle's books, visit her website: http://www.daniellemonsch.com.

***

Sometimes love is the most dangerous magic of all. In HEART OF FIRE by Kristen Painter, Jessalyne leaves a sheltered life to tame her dangerous magic by becoming apprentice to a powerful sorceress, but she’ll need the deadliest man in the realm to get her there safely. If they don't kill each other first.

From HEART OF FIRE:

“Agreeable? My kisses have been called many things. I don’t recall agreeable being among them,” he teased. “I promise a better attempt next time.”

She gave him a curious look.

“Aye.” He nodded. “There will be a next time.”

Check out all of Kristen's books at http://kristenpainter.com.

***

Be swept away in KISMET'S KISS by Cate Rowan. In the desert realm of Kad, a deadly epidemic strikes the palace of Sultan Kuramos. Only a mystical healer from an enemy land may have the skill to save his household. But he never imagined that healer would be a woman.

From KISMET'S KISS:

Groaning beneath his kiss, she grabbed his shoulders and rolled him onto his back, moving with him. Then she raised herself up a fraction and stared into his eyes. Keep kissing, shouted her heart. Walk away, screamed her head.

Cate loves hearing from readers. Contact her at: http://caterowan.com.

***

Hidden at the crossroads of the world, an ancient race battles to protect humanity, even as it dies from within. Ava comes to modern day Istanbul in THE SCRIBE, the first book in the Irin Chronicles by Elizabeth Hunter. One woman searching for answers finds a reluctant guardian in a warrior whose magic is written on his skin. But does Ava have magic of her own?

From THE SCRIBE:

With one hand, he pulled her into the room, and with the other, Malachi slammed the door

shut. He tugged her into his chest and captured her lips with his own. Desire roared through his body, thick with tension after two hundred years of fasting and a lifetime of waiting. For her. For Ava.

“I need you.”

“Then take me,” she whispered. “And don’t let go.”

Elizabeth can be contacted on her website at http://elizabethhunterwrites.com.

***

Buy Links
Amazon: http://bit.ly/AmazonDarklyDreaming

Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/BNDarklyDreaming

iTunes: http://bit.ly/AppleDarklyDreaming

Smashwords: http://bit.ly/SmashwordsDarklyDreaming

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Book Review ~ Darkness Falls (Reveler #1) by Erin Kellison

~ Genre ~ Romance, Fantasy, Paranormal, Suspense

~ Blurb ~ 

In dreams he comes to her...

Agent Malcolm Rook hunts for people with the rarest of talents--the ability to master dreams. He finds the undeniably gifted Jordan Lane, but she's wary of mysterious Rook and resists his pursuit as long as she can. When the dreamwaters they enter are too exhilarating to resist, their attraction explodes into passion. But delving too deep stirs a nightmare--one they must defeat together, or be forever lost to darkness.

Fans of paranormal romance and bad boys, get ready for a dark, sexy plunge into fantasy and desire. The Reveler Series is set in a contemporary world in which people can indulge in Rêve, or shared dreaming--a pop culture phenomenon sweeping the world. Imagine being able to fall asleep at night, only to wake in a dream world, one in which you are lucid and in control--where you can be anything you want to be and do anything you like. But you must be careful...dreaming can be as dangerous as it is seductive.

A hot paranormal romance.

~ My Review ~
Honestly I was intrigued by the cover and the blurb so I just had to read this book. I have read very few books with this type of genre and though parts of it I felt uncomfortable with it was not due to the writers skill but due to my not liking to read scary, suspenseful, dystopia or horror type books.

The author did a commendable job of portraying what happens in the dream world both from the perspective of Jordan who is a newbie and Agent Malcolm Rook who is seasoned. I got anxious in the areas where the author built up the suspense while she was in the dreamworld but not enough to keep me from reading more of her books.

Malcolm sure got my interest. He seemed to be one way then at the end I felt different about him and came to wish he would have a HEA with Jordan.

Jordan and her sister have a relationship much like me and one of my sisters so they were totally believable and real to me. I look forward to reading more on her sister, Maisie in book 2.

Darkness Falls kept me intrigued and on the edge of my chair throughout the entire novella.

Darkness Falls is part of the "Dark and Deadly: Eight Bad Boys of Paranormal Romance (Shifters Unbound #2.5)" but is also sold separately. 

Other books in this series:

~ My Rating ~ 

~ About The Author ~

Erin Kellison is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of the Shadow series and Shadow Kissed series, which share the same world, where dark fantasy meets modern fairy tale. Delve into dreamscapes in her new Reveler series, releasing Summer 2014.

~ Find The Author At ~
Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook | Google+

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Goodreads | Barnes & Noble | Amazon

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Book Review ARC ~ Wild Nights The Justiss Alliance Series 3 by Tina Wainscott

~ Genre ~ Romantic Suspense, Contemporary Suspense

~ Blurb ~

The courageous men of USA Today bestselling author Tina Wainscott’s Justiss Alliance series never give up and never make a promise they can’t live up to—especially when love is on the line.

 

The only commitment Saxby Cole has ever made is to the SEALs. He follows a long line of Southern charmers who swear monogamy isn’t in their blood. He’s never met a woman who made him want to swear his allegiance—until, while undercover for a Justiss Alliance assignment, he finds a woman who makes him think twice.   When Jennessy Shaw’s boyfriend dumps her right before their vacation to a hedonistic Caribbean resort, she goes without him to explore her wild side. Throwing caution to the wind, she propositions Saxby—only to suffer his gentle rejection.   When she wakes in Saxby’s room with no memory of the night before, Jennessy discovers his real purpose: to sniff out an operation where women like her are drugged and prostituted to resort guests. She goes from victim to his investigative partner . . . but getting too close to the sexier-than-sin Saxby may be her wildest move yet.

~ My Review ~

I love stories with Navy Seals and this easy read won’t disappoint you. 

Hot, sexy Saxby Cole goes undercover at a hedonistic Caribbean resort as an overworked financial man trying to gather evidence on drugs being used on women to use them sexually without their knowledge. He ends up involved with a beautiful reserved victim named Jennessy, who can curl his toes with a kiss. Poor Saxby fights his attraction to her while the whole time he protects her and tries to keep other men from her.  

Jennessy is great, as she takes control of what happened to her and starts to help Saxby gather evidence to stop other women from experiencing what happened to her. Kudo's to the author who shows her not as a victim but a strong analytical women taking control of the situation.

This book has some suspenseful, funny and hot, hot moments. Oh and love, yep there is some of that going on too. The author also does a great job of bringing in all the "Justiss Alliance" men into the story line creating a desire to read the previous stories and wanting to know what happens in the next book to the series.

I was given this ARC for an honest opinion by Netgalley.

Read the other books in this series:

  

~ My Rating ~ 

~ About The Author ~

Tina Wainscott has always loved the combination of suspenseful chills and romantic thrills. She's published fifteen romantic suspense novels, as well as ten paranormal romances as Jaime Rush. Losing her nephew, a Marine, in the war made her realize that our military men are really the perfect heroes. Not only during the war but afterward as they try to stitch their lives and souls together once they're home. And so was born The Justiss Alliance, an agency where these men can find purpose, honor, and love outside the war zone.

~When five Navy SEALs take the fall for a covert mission gone wrong, the brotherhood of bad-asses join The Justiss Alliance, a private agency that exacts justice outside the law.~

~ Find The Author At ~

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook

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Goodreads | Barnes & Noble | Amazon

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Book Review ARC ~ Freed: Club Sin #4 by Stacey Kennedy

~ Genre ~ Erotica, Adult Romance, BDSM

~ Blurb ~ 

Fans who can’t get enough of USA Today bestselling author Stacey Kennedy will love this wicked, wild spinoff novel that explores how sexy life can be outside Club Sin.

Mary Schmidt knows only too well how thrilling a Master’s touch can be. Her husband, Charles, had been her ultimate fantasy, a seducer in the erotic dance of dominance and submission. She misses the sensual lifestyle they shared, but mourns him so deeply she cannot bear to embrace her submissive needs with another Dom—until a man who exudes temptation reawakens desires she can no longer deny.

Elliott Foster is dazzled by Mary. He instantly knows that she’s the woman he’s been waiting for—a woman who turns games into need. As her Master, he dares to unlock the deepest pleasures of her flesh, releasing her from pain and healing her mind. When Mary’s lithe body comes to life under his, he knows their connection goes beyond sex. Now that he has found the perfect woman, the perfect partner, the perfect submissive, he desires only to give her everything she craves.

Freed is an erotic romance intended for mature audiences.

~ My Review ~

I am ecstatic to finally read a BDSM erotica book that involves older characters that I can relate too. Don’t get me wrong I love the 30 something hot, hot men and sexy women. Who doesn’t but….

The author does an outstanding realistic portrayal of a women in her 50’s with a realistic body after having three children. Mary has stretch marks and is self-conscious of her physical appearance like most of us. She is a widow written as a strong women who had the great love of her life and can’t let go of his ghost.

Even more enjoyable in this story is sexy Elliott the older man who only wanted that special submissive that was around his age. He connects with Mary in the same way that Mary’s husband connected with her and he struggles on how to make her see what they can have together.

I love the struggle they go through to get through Mary’s walls. There are areas that will make you cry and hot sexy love scenes that you need to fan yourself. I really need to go back and read the first three books to the Club Sin series because this book was that good.

I was given this ARC for an honest opinion by Netgalley.

~ My Reviews of the Club Sin series ~

Freed Book #4 ~ My 2014 Review     Amazon ~ Buy

Tamed Book #5 ~ My 2015 Review     Amazon ~ Buy

Commanded Book #6 ~ My 2015 Review     Amazon ~ Buy

Mine Book #7 ~ My 2015 Review     Amazon ~ Buy

 

 

~ My Rating ~ 

~ Sensuality Rating ~

~ About The Author ~

STACEY KENNEDY is the USA Today bestselling author of the CLUB SIN series. Growing up, Stacey's mind wandered the path less traveled and that path most often led to love. She has always broken rules and she continues to feed off emotion – staying true to her heart. Those traits are now the bones of her stories. She lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, who puts any of the heroes in her books to shame, and their two young children. If she's not on mom duty or plugging away at a new story, you'll find Stacey camping in the summer, hibernating in the winter and obsessing over Penny Dreadful, Game of Thrones and Sons of Anarchy.

~ Find The Author At ~
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Release Day Blitz: Firebolt by Adrienne Woods

Title: Firebolt

Author: Adrienne Woods

Series: The Dragonian Series

Publisher: Fire Quill Publishing

Release Date: September 19, 2014

Blurb/Synopsis:

Back blurb:

Dragons. Right. Teenage girls don't believe in fairy tales, and sixteen-year-old Elena Watkins was no different.

Until the night a fairy tale killed her father.

Now Elena is in a new world, and a new school. The cutest guy around may be an evil dragon, a prince wants Elena's heart, and a long dead sorcerer may be waking up to kill her. Oh and the only way Elena's going to graduate is on the back of a dragon of her own.

Teenage girls don't believe in fairy tales. Now it's time for Elena to believe in...herself.

Synopsis:

For the love of blueberries, Elena Watkins was destined for greatness, even though she didn’t know it. Forced to travel from home to home every three months Elena’s life was a never ending blur of new towns and new faces, that is, until the night her father was killed by a creature she thought only existed in fairy tales – a dragon. With her father’s death leaving her orphaned, Elena is whisked away to her true birthplace, Paegeia.

Arriving at Dragonia Academy, the premier school for young Dragonians, she begins to feel a sense of belonging in this strange world; a school she was never meant to attend because her father was a dragon. Elena is soon swept up in the rigor of her new life and the new set of skills she now needs to survive: Latin, Art of War, and Enchantments.

Entranced by her new reality Elena learns about the dragons and humans who inhabit her new home. There are two classes of dragons that soar through Paegeia distinguished by their instinctual pretense for either good or darkness. The distinction between these two very different species is vital to Elena’s success in her new world because she has been marked as a Dragonian, a human preordained to ride and tame a dragon of her very own.

With the help of her new friends, Elena is able to navigate the complexities of her new home. Her new roommates Becky and Sammy are even more amazing then she could have ever imaged and to top it all off, Sammy was a dragon. Sammy’s is also the devoted sister of Blake, the most attractive boy at school and the Rubicon; the only dragon of his kind with the abilities of all the dragon species with a pretense for evil. Elena soon finds the love she always wanted with Lucian, the Prince of Tith, who actively pursues Elena throughout her time at Dragonia Academy, winning her heart with his absolute adoration and unshaken dedication.

Unbeknownst to Elena danger is lurking behind the enchanted vines concealing the once thriving capital of Paegeia – Etan. Goran, the darkest sorcerer to ever practice his evil arts in the realm, has lain dormant for over a century behind the crumbling city. The first step in his menacing plan is to destroy the only weapon that can kill him – the King of Lion Sword.

When the sword is stolen Elena doesn’t think twice about seeking it; knowing deep down that it is her destiny to save her new home. She travels to the Sacred Cavern, and discovers the nefarious actions of an unknown man lead to the swords destruction as she follows the trail revealed in the prophetic waters of the cavern.

Elena and her friends engage the mysterious man revealing their existence to Goran and fighting for their very lives.

Excerpt

 A GIRL SINGING HER heart out about a miracle boomed inside my ear. A miracle would get me what I needed: a chance at a semi-normal life.

The bedroom door hitting the wall expelled the thought from my mind. With his hand tangled up in his copper hair, and with huge brown eyes, Dad's figure filled the entire doorway. “Pack your bags.” He had that set to his jaw, the one that meant there was no way out of this. He bolted out of the room just as suddenly as he had appeared.

My teeth ground hard against each other, and the sharp pain behind my eyes, I guessed from the lack of sleep, grew stronger. Every fiber of my being wanted to explode.

Ever since I could remember my name, Dad and I had been on the run. From what? Beats me.

For the last two weeks, I'd been pacing up and down through the house, struggling to fall asleep at night, waiting for this day.

For the love of blueberries, no sixteen-year-old should live this way!

I climbed off my bed, and the first step I took left my toe tangled in the wide leg of my jeans. I tried to regain my balance as the closet inched closer, but with wildly flailing arms, I came crashing down. The thud reverberated across the wooden floor, and it sounded as if I'd broken something.

Dad darted back into my room. “Are you okay?” He lifted me back onto my feet as if I weighed nothing.

Tears lurked in the corners of my eyes, threatening to burst, as I stared up at him.

“Don't give me that look, Elena. Please, we need to hurry.” He pulled my suitcase from the top shelf and chucked it haphazardly onto my bed. “We need to go. Now.”

“Dad…”

He started to grab my clothes from the shelf and tossed them messily inside my small suitcase. Then he paused, sighed, and looked up with soft eyes. He stroked the side of my cheek. “This . . .” He looked past me. “. . . wasn't the right place, Bear. Please, you’ve got to trust me.”

His hand reached back to pull everything off my shelf, while my hands curled up into balls of fury. My heart pounded fast as those two words bounced inside my skull. “Trust you?”

“Elena, we don't have much time,” he yelled. “Pack your bags! You can ask questions later.” He left, and the hollow thump from his stomping footsteps rang loudly as he made his way into the hall.

Ask questions? Yeah right! I’ll only get answers that don’t reveal why we are on the run for the gazillionth time. “Trust me” and “I'll tell you when the time is right” were the only two answers Dad gave. Guess the time with him will never be right.

It was no use arguing with him anyway. Once, he threw me over his shoulder and carried me out without any of my things.

So I grabbed the stuff I needed: my mp3 player, a photo of Mom and me on my first birthday that Dad didn't know I had, and my journal from underneath my bed. I tossed them into my backpack. It wasn't much, but it was the stuff that made my miserable life feel less pathetic. I zipped up my suitcase and took a deep breath. Looking around my bedroom for the last time, I said goodbye to my sixtieth-something room.

Dad almost ran me over in the hall, with his army bag slung over his shoulder. He grumbled, which I assumed was an apology, took my suitcase, and ran down the stairs. He always rented these huge old houses, pre-furnished and near the countryside, and we always left after three months.

The pickup's horn honked as I shut the front door. I closed my eyes and took another deep breath. Just two more years, then I'll be eighteen and free from this freak show. Huge raindrops fell hard onto the ground. The smell of wet dirt filled the air. It was my favorite smell.

The water that pooled on the ground covered all the gaps in the driveway, forcing me to hopscotch around all of them. My shoe got caught in one of the gaps and I smacked down hard in a huge puddle. By the time I reached the truck, my jeans and shoes dripped with water.

Warm heat from the vents inside the truck hit me full blast as I jumped in; a million goose bumps erupted across my skin.  As soon as I shut the rusty door, Dad floored the gas pedal. Tires screeched and the truck spun away as if the Devil was chasing us.  My lower lip quivered softly as he swerved onto the road. The streetlights flew by in a blur, and I plugged in my earphones. The same stupid song about a miracle boomed from my mp3, drowning the sound of the engine and the hard dribbles on the roof, a percussion that became the perpetual soundtrack to my misery.

A feeling of utter loneliness consumed my heart while I stared out the window. Homes with white picket fences and a convenience store whizzed by in a flash. A tear rolled down my cheek. Saying a silent goodbye, I released my breath and watched as it created a foggy condensation on the glass. Reaching out with my index finger, I drew a small heart. These were the reasons why Mom had left. She couldn't handle his paranoia, but why she’d left her two-year-old daughter to deal with it was a mystery. Dad constantly reminded me of the latter; that was the only time he ever spoke of her. If he ever discovered I had that picture, he would kill me. That was how much he hated her for leaving us.

The lights of a vehicle in the upcoming lane shone directly into my face. I shut my eyes, waiting for it to disappear. When I was little, I used to watch Dad as we drove away from yet another house. He would glare into his rearview mirror every five seconds, every muscle in his face clenched, and his knuckles white on the steering wheel. I hadn’t been able to force myself to peek out the window then, as it used to scare the living crap out of me to consider the possible reasons why he was fleeing, or who might be following us. Now, I didn't look at him or care much about what he was going through. He’d created this problem, with me becoming the luggage. It was a ritual I endured every three months, and nothing over the past sixteen years had ever changed that.

The “Interstate 40” sign flew by in a whirl, and the pickup slowly moved onto the turnoff lane.

My eyes started to burn as I stared at the rain running sideways against my window. Each rivet resembled another town, another place I could never again call home. Exhaustion consumed me and my eyelids felt heavy. I laid my head against the window and struggled to stay awake.

Suddenly, a huge figure flew past me. Dad swerved to the left, which made me crash into his side. My entire body pumped with adrenaline. I jumped straight in my seat, tore out my earphones, as I wrenched the seatbelt over my shoulder to buckle myself in, while trying to process what had just happened.

“What was that?” I looked at Dad.

He kept checking his rearview mirror every five seconds with huge eyes. Beads of sweat rolled from his hairline down to the side of his temple. Sure, he was paranoid, but I’d never seen Dad look this scared in my entire life. This was something more than his usual paranoia.

“Dad!”

“Did you see where it went?” he asked, attempting to inject calm into his voice, but I could hear the fear lacing each syllable.

“See where what went? Dad, what was that?”

“You wouldn't believe me if I told you.”

“For once in your life, just tell me!” I screamed. Sixteen years of frustration exploded from my lungs. I couldn't take the unknown anymore.

“Fine.” He mumbled something else that I didn't catch. “Do you remember the stories I used to tell you?”

“Stories? What stories?”

“The stories about Paegeia, Elena.” He looked in his rearview mirror again with huge, unblinking eyes.

Vaguely, but I didn't tell him that. “What does that have to do with this?”

“They're real.”

I froze and stared at him.

“All of it, it’s real. The dragons, the magic, the wall, everything is real.”

About the Author

I was born and raised in South Africa, where I still live with my husband, and two beautiful little girls. I always knew that I was going to be a writer but it only started to happen about four years ago, now I can’t stop writing. In my free time, If I get any because Moms don’t really have free time, I love to spend time with friends, if it’s a girls night out, or just a movie, I’m a very chilled person.My writing career is starting with Firebolt, book one with the Dragonian Series, there will be four books in total and two to three books that is about the stories taking place inside The Dragonian Series. Then there is Dream Casters that are coming in 2015, 3 novels in that series so far...it might change.I do write in different Genres, I have a woman’s fiction called the Pregnancy Diaries, but it would be published under another name. And then I have a paranormal series, called the Aswang series and another series called Guardians of Monsters which will come in 2016, hopefully, that will be written under a different Pen name called Kristen Ping.

So, plenty of novels to come out, so little time.

XOXOXOXO

Adrienne

Links:

Website    * Twitter   * The Dragonian Series Facebook page   * Adrienne Woods Blog 

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